Whidehch

The Story of Whidehch

The Wildlife Conservation Society and the Hoopa Valley Tribe worked collaboratively with the Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, the Sequoia Park Zoo, and Humboldt State University to care for an orphaned fisher kit, with the ultimate goal of releasing her back into the wild.

WCS has been conducting ongoing research looking into the habits of fisher, a weasel about the size of a house cat, in the Hoopa Valley since 2004.  The research involves radio collaring adult females to learn about their home ranges and the trees they use to raise their young. Unfortunately, one of the fishers was killed by a predator – probably a bobcat. WCS and Hoopa field biologists rescued her orphaned kit in her last known den site. The young kit was named, “Whidehch”, which means little or younger sister in the Hupa language.

Whidehch was delivered to Humboldt Wildlife Care Center volunteer, Amanda Houston, who bottle fed the kit until she was old enough to be weaned and eating solid food. Then she was transferred to an off-exhibit enclosure at the Sequoia Park Zoo, where she was cared for while receiving as little human contact as possible.  While at the zoo, we monitored her behaviors and determined she had developed the skills to survive on her own in the wild.

Whidehch was then returned to the Hoopa Valley Reservation, to a transitional enclosure close to her previous den site.  We collaborated with Humboldt State University professor Micaela Szykman Gunther and undergraduate Michelle Schroeder to conduct behavioral observations to determine if Whidehch was able to effectively kill prey she would need in the wild.

On a crisp fall morning in early October, we opened the door to Whidehch's enclosure and watched a tentative yet curious young fisher make her first steps into the forest that will be her home.  It was a bitter sweet moment for all involved.  We will now follow her movements using radio telemetry and hope to see her raise her own kits in the years to come.

Follow Whidehch's Story

Whidehch's rescue in the September 2007 issue of Wildlife Conservation Magazine

Whidehch at the Sequioa Park Zoo  in the 3 Aug 2007 edition of the Times Standard

Whidehch's release back to Hoopa in the 4 Oct 2007 edition of the Times Standard